The expenditures of the Municipality of Leiria on the recovery works across the municipality in the wake of Storm Kristin, which six months ago severely affected this territory, amount to 38.5 million euros, announced yesterday by the mayor.
“The municipal monitoring map, updated on July 24, identifies a global effort of around 38.6 million euros, including VAT. This value aggregates contracts, ongoing supplies and procedures yet to be launched. It does not correspond, therefore, to all the expenditure already executed; it corresponds to the known financial dimension of the response and the recovery that lies ahead,” stated Gonçalo Lopes.
In the municipal executive meeting, today decentralised in Coimbrão, Gonçalo Lopes (PS) stressed that it is an “exceptional effort” for the local authority, but guaranteed “absolute rigor in the use of public resources” and “a firm demand for national support proportional to the extent of the damages and the responsibilities assumed locally.”
In a situation update, as six months pass since the storm, the mayor stated that, “between January 28 and July 22, 11,924 households were supported with food and 511.2 tonnes of goods were distributed,” and that “more than 280 people had to be sheltered in emergency responses and temporary accommodation.”
“The Reerguer Leiria Office and the social teams ensured personalized care and close intervention in the 20 parishes,” with “1,140 appointments and home visits directly linked to the storm” having been carried out, the mayor said.
According to the mayor, in terms of psychological support there were “642 appointments in the various modalities created or reinforced.”
As for applications for housing recovery support, of the 10,807 in the municipality, 8,456 were processed by the municipality. Of the latter, “7,950 have already had a decision from the CCDR Centro,” with 5,546 applications paid, 2,113 rejected and 291 awaiting payment. 506 remain under analysis.
In education, “110 school buildings required intervention in the first phase and 109 were intervened,” clarified Gonçalo Lopes, to recall that “the school network reopened by February 19, resorting, when necessary, to alternative facilities, 31 leased modules, 15 modules purchased and other temporary structures.”
According to the city hall president, three schools remain relocated, with “five structural projects in development” for other schools.
“The objective cannot be merely to restore what existed; it has to be to create schools that are safer, better prepared and more resilient,” he argued.
Regarding the “municipal road and forest network, in the latter case around 1,200 kilometres identified as affected,” and “as of July 13, 1,031.49 kilometres were intervened,” i.e., “86.18% of the validated extent.”
“In buildings, equipment, public space, traffic and green spaces, the sector balance identifies 96 interventions, totaling 11.8 million euros with VAT. Of these, 42 are completed, 25 invoiced or nearing completion, 11 in execution and 18 under contracting,” he added.
These interventions include the “municipal stadium, schools, health centers, cultural facilities, roads, traffic lights, signage, transport shelters, gardens, arboreal heritage and many other spaces used daily by the population,” he described.
The mayor stressed that, in environmental terms, there is “one of the largest operations in Portugal for rubbish collection and which is not yet finished.”
“The storm produced an extraordinary volume of waste. Between January 29 and June 30, 6,130 tonnes were treated. Of the 36 temporary disposal sites identified in the parishes, 32 already had some level of intervention by mid-July,” he reported.
“As of July 13, in door-to-door collections and on the public streets of materials containing asbestos and non-urban waste, 584 of 1,123 points had been completed, a global rate of 52%.”
“This is a front that has to accelerate in the second half of the year, with safety, technical capacity and better information to the residents.”
“In the waterways, 3,300 of the 13,888 metres planned were intervened, a physical execution of 23.8%. The priority interventions advanced on the Lis River, the Carreira creek and in Fontes, Cortes,” added Gonçalo Lopes.
In the meeting, councilor Luísa Gonçalves (PSD) presented a video showing, along a road between Ortigosa and Souto da Carpalhosa, the deposition of large quantities of waste and questioned the forecast for its resolution.
The mayor acknowledged that this situation is not pleasant, but that work is underway to remove it, lamenting that some people, during Storm Kristin, “took advantage to clean out the garage,” since all kinds of waste were found, not only those resulting from the destruction.
